Gaming machines which provide players awards are well known in the art. These gaming machines generally require the player to make a wager to activate the primary or base game. To obtain the award, the player typically is needs to obtaining a winning symbol, or symbol combination, in the primary game. The value of the award varies with the amount of the wager, with the award increasing with an increasing wager. Generally, the gaming machines provide higher awards on the occurrence of specific symbols, or symbol combinations, which are less likely to appear.
Secondary games, or bonus games, are also well known in gaming machine art. The bonus games usually provide an additional award to the player on the occurrence of an event during the course of the primary game. The bonus games add to the enjoyment and excitement of playing certain gaming machines, sometimes even before the player knows the value of the bonus award.
Bonus games vary in their requirements for play during the primary game. Some bonus games are activated automatically while others require player activation. For instance, some gaming machines require the player to wager the maximum amount for eligibility for the bonus game. Other gaming machines require the player to make an additional wager before that player is eligible for the bonus game. Still other gaming machines require a symbol occurring in one or more locations during the primary game—such as a special symbol appearing on the pay line on the one specific reel of a multi-reel slot machine—to trigger the bonus game.
When a bonus game is triggered, the gaming machines generally indicate this trigger to the player through various visual and/or audio output devices, (e.g. video screens, reels, lights, speakers, etc.) Once activated, some bonus games proceed automatically while others require some level of player interaction. This interaction can be in the form of affirmative selections or other decisions that affect the outcome of the bonus game. Typically, the player is provided instructions and information about the play of the bonus game. These instructions and information often appear on the display device at the gaming machine being played.
Various awards can be available to multiple gaming machines or groups of gaming machines. For example, a progressive jackpot award, or progressive award, is typically an award amount available to multiple gaming machines at the same time. This type of award typically increases by allocating a portion of each wager made on the gaming machines having the progressive award to the progressive award value. For example, a portion of each wager on the primary game of the gaming machine can be allocated to the progressive award. Depending on the particular gaming machine with the progressive award, the award maybe a self-contained jackpot, wherein the jackpot grows with every play on a particular machine, or the progressive award is facilitated between two or more gaming machines connected to a common progressive jackpot, each of which individually contribute to the jackpot and have the ability to win that jack pot.
The connection between the gaming machines which are involved in and are eligible for the progressive jackpot game and the associated progressive award vary. For example, a local area network (“LAN”) may connect the gaming machines from the same bank of machines at a certain location on the casino floor or even various locations of machines in the same casino. Alternately, a wide area network (“WAN”) can connect machines in two or more different casinos, or gaming establishments. Other networked systems, for example systems using the Internet, can connect remote players at various locations such that eligibility could be worldwide.
Bingo is an example of a game that is also played on gaming machines. These games also typically require a wager and have multiple potential outcomes wherein the random outcome is generated and displayed to each of the participating players.
The gaming machine based upon a bingo game has playing pieces, or playing grids or playing cards, bearing numbers or other designations in which the participant, or player, covers such numbers or designations on the playing card after a central control system selects a similarly numbered, or designated, object. The selection can be by a draw or by an electronic determination, where both are typically referred to as a ball draw. The bingo game is won by the first person covering a previously designated arrangement of numbers or designations on one of the playing pieces. Bingo is typically played with a variable number of bingo cards resulting from varying numbers of players and individual players playing numerous bingo cards. For a given game winning, or ending, pattern, the expected number of balls drawn during a ball draw in order for at least one bingo card to match the game ending pattern will vary with the number of bingo cards played in that bingo game.
It is known in the art that a bingo game may include interim winners of prizes based on matching predetermined interim patterns on the bingo card using the same ball draw used to determine the gaming ending pattern. The interim pattern wins do not typically terminate the bingo game, but can provide an additional award to players having those interim patterns as the game continues.
Typically, however, the prior art systems award the interim awards only when an individual player has matched an interim pattern. These prior art systems compare patterns formed during the ball call on each individual bingo card to predetermined patterns and award the interim awards based upon that individual bingo card matching one of the interim winning patterns. The incident of an interim award is therefore not dependent on multiple players achieving an interim pattern. Alternate prior art systems award interim awards when a player's specially selected symbol is used as part of the award winning interim pattern. Again, in this situation the incident of an interim award is not dependent on multiple players achieving an interim pattern.
Additionally, some players prefer the playing experience associated with traditional “Vegas-style” slot machines over that of a typical bingo games. The slot machine outcomes are based upon the resultant patterns of symbols displayed on the reels, whether electro-mechanical, video, or a combination thereof. However, traditional slot machines are typically subject to more stringent regulatory approval standards by various governing organizations in the gaming industry and could be subject to different economic factors, such as applicable taxes.
As such, it is known in the prior art to present a bingo game outcome to the player by simulating the appearance of the traditional slot machines on a display, whether electro-mechanical, video, or a combination thereof. In this instance, the gaming machine display has the look and feel of a slot machine, but the outcome of the bingo game is determining the outcome and distribution of any awards at that gaming machine. For example, the positioning of the slot reels as displayed at a bingo based gaming machine can be based upon the bingo pattern, or patterns, matched by the player during the bingo game. The award amounts depicted by the gaming machine display device can correspond to the award amounts, including any bonus awards, represented by the bingo patterns obtained by that gaming machine during the occurrence of the bingo game. Therefore, the display device showing the reels displays the results of the bingo game in an alternate fashion. A traditional “bingo card” can also be displayed at the gaming machine and is the ultimate outcome-determining entity of any awards and is usually based upon the ball draw as generated by the central control system, as previously mentioned.
Further, bingo can be viewed as a social game. It can be seen as fun and exciting, in part, because two or more players, such as friends, related players or even unrelated players, can play the same game at the same time. Bingo can also be considered linked because a single event is shared by multiple players. However, a need exists to improve the nature of sharing between multiple individually played gaming machines in a networked bingo game.
Additionally, the excitement associated with a bingo game can be improved with alternate methods of winning the game. These alternate methods preferably increase the availability of awards associated with the game without distracting from the primary game. As such, a need exists to improve the nature of the awards associated with multiple individually played gaming machines in a networked bingo game.